Author: Steinar Opheim

Christians are Terrorist Targets Across Africa

/ Steinar Opheim

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 A big share of Africa’s terrorist groups is connected to Islamist networks. This has made the Christians on the continent especially vulnerable. Also the lives of several tentmakers are at risk.

The Christians in Nigeria have been under pressure for several years. Also the past 12 months there have been numerous deadly attacks against churches and congregations in Africa’s most populous nation. The Islamist group named Boko Haram has taken on responsibility for many of them. Their aim is to overthrow Nigeria’s secular government and implement Sharia as nationwide laws. Sharia already constitutes a big part of the legal system in several of the country’s northern states.

It is however not only in Nigeria that Christians increasingly are becoming targets for militant Muslims with clearly defined political goals. In Mali most of the Christians fled the Northern territories when Tuareg-rebels and Islamists gained control in the end of March. Eyewitnesses tell stories of rape, murder and robbed and ruined Christian homes. Christians in Kenya, Sudan, Morocco, Libya and Egypt have also become victims in bloody and deadly attacks the past six months.

According to World Evangelical Alliance al-Qaeda may be a major back player in 
the attacks on Christians in Africa. WEAs conclusions are built on reports from the defense forum of Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). The forum indicates that the war in Afghanistan has forced al-Qaeda to establish its work in other region where their training can go on more or less unnoticed.

– Right now the leaders in al-Qaeda are trying to form strategic partnerships with likeminded organizations in Africa, for instance with al-Shabaab. At the same time they are strengthening their ties with organizations they are already collaborating with, states RUSI´s security analyst Valentine Soria in a report.

A great number of tentmakers both from Africa and other continents are serving God in the affected nations across Africa. Many of them are staying on at the places where God has put them despite the dangers. The past years Global Opportunities and Tent have run tentmaking courses in several of the nations where Christians have been targeted.

Europe’s Last Hegemony is Falling – and Africa is Taking Over

/ Steinar Opheim

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In the midst of “de-christianisation”, secularism and materialism Europe has kept 
one leadership position in the Christian world. But now even this hegemony seems to fall.

According to Status of Global Mission 2012 there are still more church members in Europe than on any other continent. But within the coming one-two years Latin-America will overtake Europe. Just a few years later Africa will surpass both Latin-America and Europe and take the leadership role. Since the church grows faster in Africa than on any other continent, Africa will probably keep on top of the church member statistics for many years to come.

100 years ago no one could challenge Europe’s top position as the World’s Christian center of gravity. In year 1900 70 per cent of all the world’s church members belonged to European churches. Since then the churches in Europe have experienced stagnation or decline. At the same time the population growth on the continent has been very small.

Huge growth

The churches in Africa have had the opposite development. In year 1900 less than nine million Africans were members of a Christian church. Today the African churches in total have approximately 500 million members.

– The church growth has been greatest in areas where we earlier found the traditional, African religions. The gospel has given people hope and filled spiritual needs that the traditional religions could not meet. Now we also see that the Gospel is advancing in the Muslim areas in the northern part of Africa despite the threats and persecution that the believers are facing there, comments Tiowa Diarra. He is the head of Tentmakers International Africa (TIA), a network that is training African tentmakers to take the gospel to all the unreached areas in Africa and beyond.

Tentmaking is seen as a great mission model in Africa. Because most tentmakers are supporting themselves through their work, this model allows all churches to be involved in the worldwide mission work even if their resources are limited.

Growing impact

According to Operation World the evangelical churches in Africa are growing faster than all other congregations. 100 years ago the continent had 1.6 million evangelical Christians. Today they number 182 million.

Tiowa Diarra believes that the African churches to a growing extent will impact 
the worldwide Christian church in the years to come.

– The African congregations can contribute with many things. For instance I believe we can give valuable input when it comes to evangelism and discipleship training, says the TIA leader.

Next year Tentmakers International Africa will host the TI World Congress on tentmaking. The Congress is taking place in Dar es Salaam in the beginning of August.

Muslims and Christians take over the world

/ Steinar Opheim

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The two biggest religions in the world are growing in number and influence. The others are diminishing.

Islam and Christianity seem to be the winners on the religious market according to a new report from the Center of Study of Global Christianity.  200 years ago 33 per cent of the world´s population belonged to one of these two religions. Today their share has grown to more than 50 per cent. Estimates for the future show that they will continue to grow and that 66 per cent of the world’s population will be either Muslims or Christians by year 2100. The Christians will continue to outnumber the Muslims.

The intermingling of Muslim and Christian peoples is evident in Africa, Central Asia, India and Indonesia—all areas where Muslim-initiated persecution and conflict are more likely. Religious conflict could become a major destabilizing factor along the fault line between Muslim and Christian areas, states Patrick Johnstone in the book The Future of The Global Church that was published last year.

Stein Villumstad who is heading the European Council of Religious Leaders (ECRL) says it is important that leaders from different religions acknowledge and show respect for each other.

To a growing extent the leaders now take part in both formal and informal talks across the religious borderlines and we experience that there is a greater sense of understanding between them than before, says Villumstad.

Foreign Workers Bring Change in Israel

/ Steinar Opheim

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 Expatriates working in Israel are bringing the Gospel to many Jewish families, says Andy Ball. He is encouraging the Christian guest workers to see themselves as tentmakers.

   The immigrants can reach out with the gospel in ways we cannot do as Israelis, states Andy Ball. He is managing the bookstore run by the Israeli Bible Society in Tel Aviv. As often as possible he visits the immigrant congregations in the city trying to give the guest workers a vision of how they can share the Gospel while they are employed in Israel.

   Many Filipinos are working as housemaids for elderly people. The families they are employed by know that they are Christians, read in the Bible and go to church every Sunday. I encourage them to take some extra steps in faith. One suggestion is that they can pray for healing if their employers get sick. We have already experienced many concrete answers to these prayers, says Andy Ball.

He is currently writing a book where several of these stories will be told. One of them is about a Filipino housekeeper working for an orthodox, Jewish family. One day the husband in the family got ill and ended up in hospital. After examining the man the doctors concluded that he had just a few days left to live. The man decided to call together his whole family in order to say farewell. After their visit only his wife and the housekeeper remained in the room.

   You know that I have rejected you every time you have tried to tell me about Jesus, the man said.

   Today I want to tell you that I have heard every word you have said. I truly believe that Jesus is Messiah. Now I want you to pray that God will heal me, he continued.

   God answered the prayer of the housekeeper and the man was healed. When the family heard what had happened, they started thinking that the housekeeper had some kind of a special healing power. The orthodox, Jewish man explained to them that this was not her work. It was the faith in Jesus as Messiah that had saved him, tells Andy Ball.

Another man told his housekeeper that he wanted to believe in Jesus, but he felt that he had committed to many sins in his life. He doubted that there wouldn’t be any forgiveness available for him. The housekeeper explained that Jesus would forgive everything as soon as he asked him for it.

   The woman told me that the prayer the man prayed was the most fantastic she has ever heard. In an open way he confessed his sins before he asked Jesus for forgiveness. As he was saying Amen, he passed away, tells Andy Ball.